Yes, You Can Buy Life Insurance With Bitcoin. Here's How It Actually Works

In October 2025, a company called Meanwhile raised $82 million from Bain Capital Crypto to sell life insurance policies where you pay premiums in Bitcoin, accumulate value in Bitcoin, and your beneficiaries receive a death benefit paid entirely in Bitcoin.

This isn't a gimmick or a press release that never shipped. Meanwhile has been operational since 2023, licensed in Bermuda, and is now serving policyholders aged 18-65 across the United States and Canada. If you're a long-term Bitcoin holder who has wondered how to pass on your stack without triggering capital gains taxes or leaving your family to figure out seed phrases, this is worth understanding.

What Meanwhile Actually Offers

Meanwhile is the world's first life insurance carrier fully denominated in Bitcoin. That means everything happens in BTC: premiums, cash value accumulation, loans, and death benefits.

The basics:

• Minimum commitment: 1 BTC total over 10 years, or you can pre-fund the entire policy upfront
• Maximum death benefit: 50 BTC per policy
• Guaranteed growth: 2% annual compounding on your Bitcoin holdings, tax-free
• Policy loans: After year two, you can borrow up to 90% of surrender value, tax-free, with a stepped-up cost basis that avoids capital gains

The death benefit activates immediately upon your first premium payment. Underwriting happens entirely online, with no doctor visits or bloodwork required.

Meanwhile custodies Bitcoin with Anchorage Digital (a federally chartered crypto bank) and maintains a 150% solvency ratio. The company invests conservatively in BTC lending and private credit, claiming no credit losses to date.

Who's Behind This

Meanwhile was founded in 2022 by Zac Townsend and Max Gasner. Townsend previously built a banking API company that sold to Silicon Valley Bank; Gasner came from a Salesforce acquisition. Their backers include Sam Altman (OpenAI CEO) and Google's Gradient Ventures.

The $122 million raised in 2025, including that $82 million October round, suggests institutional investors see a real market here. That doesn't mean it's risk-free, but it does mean sophisticated capital has done due diligence.

The Tax Angle

This is where Bitcoin life insurance gets genuinely interesting for long-term holders.

If you've held BTC for years and it's appreciated significantly, selling triggers capital gains taxes. But a whole life insurance policy lets you access that value differently. Policy loans aren't taxable events. The 2% guaranteed growth compounds tax-free inside the policy. And when you die, the death benefit passes to beneficiaries without the complications of inheritance tax on appreciated assets.

Danny Baer, Meanwhile's Wealth Director, emphasizes this point: for Bitcoiners who believe in holding for decades, the policy structure offers liquidity without the tax hit of selling.

What About "Vida"?

If you searched for "Vida Bitcoin life insurance," you likely meant Meanwhile. There's no company called Vida offering Bitcoin-denominated life insurance products. Vida Health is an unrelated virtual care company focused on chronic conditions.

The confusion probably stems from Meanwhile being relatively new and the terminology in this space still settling.

The Broader Trend

Meanwhile isn't operating in a vacuum. In January 2026, Delaware Life launched the first U.S. fixed indexed annuity with Bitcoin exposure, using BlackRock's U.S. Equity Bitcoin Balanced Risk 12% Index. That product offers principal protection with indirect BTC upside, a different structure than Meanwhile's direct Bitcoin denomination.

This signals that traditional insurance companies are finding ways to incorporate Bitcoin without taking on full price volatility. The approaches differ: Meanwhile embraces Bitcoin's price movements entirely, while Delaware Life hedges them.

The Obvious Counterargument

Bitcoin could drop 50% or more. It has before, repeatedly.

If you buy a Meanwhile policy and Bitcoin crashes, your death benefit is still denominated in BTC. That's great if you believe Bitcoin will recover and appreciate over decades. It's less great if you need a guaranteed dollar amount for your family's financial security.

Meanwhile's structure makes sense for people who already think in BTC terms and plan to hold regardless. It's not designed to convert skeptics or protect against Bitcoin-specific downside risk.

Who This Is Actually For

Meanwhile targets a specific profile: long-term Bitcoin holders who want to pass on their stack efficiently, access liquidity without selling, and avoid the operational risks of leaving hardware wallets and seed phrases to family members who may not understand them.

If that's you, the product solves real problems. If you're looking for conventional life insurance with some crypto exposure on the side, Delaware Life's newer annuity products might be more appropriate.

The Bitcoin insurance market barely existed before 2023. It's maturing quickly, with serious capital and institutional backing. Whether it makes sense for your situation depends entirely on how you already think about Bitcoin's role in your financial life.